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Lots of questions

J

JPS35

Senior member
I bought this TV last night and overall, am very pleased with it. But, now for all the goodies and questions:

1. Dish HD vs. Comcast HD vs. Directtv HD - Customer Service, packages, pricing, etc? We currently have Dish and have been happy with this, but would like to look at the HD options. Researching this shows problems with Dish's new satellite and fewer HD channels than the others, but they will catch up. Thoughts?

2. If Satellite is a good way to go, are there specific HD DVR boxes that are better than others?

3. Upconverters - I know that this tv has a built in DVD upconverter, but is there any such thing as an upconverter for standard satellite signals? I have found one mentioned, but the article was a few years. If not, wht is the best way to get the "best picture" with non HD channels?

Anything else I need to be aware of or other thoughts folks want to share?

Thanks!
 
I can't really answer your first 2 questions, but the internal scaler on your XBR4 should be pretty decent. It's not a "DVD" upconverter, because it upconverts all signals that go into it. Its resolution is fixed at 1080p. However, it accepts other resolutions like 720p, 480p, and 480i. In order to display those resolutions, it has to upconvert them to 1080p. It seems like you'll be using a DVR box, so it doesn't matter if the signal is coming from a DVD player or a cable box. The TV won't know the difference. It'll only see that it's getting a 480i or 480p resolution and it'll scale it to 1080p.

There are benefits to getting an external scaler or upconverting DVD player because the external scaler or upconverting DVD player may do a better job of upconverting than the TV (ie, the signal is scaled to 1080i or 1080p before it reaches the TV). External scalers are pretty expensive from what I remember. Unless you watch a LOT of non-HD TV and care about it that much, I wouldn't bother with one. I'd just plug the cable box straight into the TV and watch the non-HD TV without any extra processing.

Upconverting DVD players are inexpensive these days, but I'd recommend getting a blu-ray player since that would probably do a good job of upconverting.

I'd also recommend calibrating your TV. Or if your plate is pretty full with all this HDTV info, I'd say to read through a few pages of the XBR4 calibration thread to have an idea of what settings would be good for your TV. They're not exact as the TV's do vary a bit, but they'll help. Having a properly calibrated TV is important, and finding settings that other users are using is a step in the right direction. I would mainly trust the settings that have been posted by people who list what calibration DVD they used to post with. Otherwise they might just be eye-balling and not really know what they're doing.
 
1. Dish HD vs Directv HD - Directv is winning right now, and since Dish last satellite launch failed miserably, that's not going to change anytime soon. DTV just launched another sat too, except theirs actually went up, and it should be online before fall. That means their lead over Dish will just get larger. Here's a comparison of the channels offered by each.


Pricing for HD is in Directv favor too, $16 vs $20 for dish. That's for both HD packages, because both Directv & Dish split their HD channels into 2 tiers now. Directv's are $9.99 for the first & $5.99 for the second. Dish charges $10 for each tier.

My customer service experience with Directv has been outstanding. I got both my HD DVR, and HD receiver for free, and you just can't beat that. I can't speak for Dish's service, because I never had them. I hate Comcast with a passion though, and can't wait until Fios is finally up on my side of town.

2. As far as HD DVR receivers go, DTV is only using the HR21 now which doesn't give you OTA, but they are now offering some sort of usb add on that will allow you to pick up channels OTA. You can still find the HR20, which has OTA, in some stores. My Costco still has them.

My biggest complaint with DTV's DVR is that the guide data just doesn't provide enough info. Mines still records reruns of shows, which pisses me off to no end. Searching on an actor is pretty much a waste of time, because the data just isn't there most of the time. It wasn't like that with the HD Tivo I had with them, so I find this inexcusable. I hear that the new firmware addresses this, so hopefully they have fix this.

I think the latest Dish HD DVR is the ViP722. You can hook 2 tv's up to it, but only one will have HD resolution. It will down convert the second tv to standard 480i. It also has picture in picture, which is a feature I would love to have on my DTV box.

Both DTV & Dish receivers record about 50 hours of HD programming, which can be expanded if you add an external hard drive. The DTV boxes uses eSATA drives, which you can just plug in and be up & running in about 5 minutes. I'm not sure what type of hard drive the ViP722 takes, but I know Dish charges you a fee of $40 if you want to use one. You should visit http://www.dbstalk.com if you need more info.

fanerman91 did a good job on 3. I'll just add that the DVR will upconvert if you want, but I'd bet that your tv does a better job.


 
I like my Comcast HD. Down time are rare. They recently upgraded the lineup to include a lot more free channels (24 in total, excluding any premium channels). I pay $15 more a month for the HD service (on top of expanded cable), which includes ESPN and ESPN2. Score! You get a digital cable box from comcast, it has optical out and DVI to HDMI connection. A lot of the cable HD channels have on-demand, that lets you rewatch show anytime you want. Did I mention there's no contract w/ Comcast and you can cancel anytime? My bill's around $43 a month.
 
Thank you for all your help thus far; this has been very informative. I, too, HATE Comsquat for all the crap they pull in our area. Fees, extra charges, bend over just because, etc. is just too much for what we would get.

I also read about the Dish Satellite and the screw up this will cause.

So far, with DVDs, the upconversion built in has done a decent job. Certainly not comarable to Blue Ray, but it does well.

Others?
 
Biggest complaint I have about Dish, and the reason we are no longer with them, is that they require a second satellite dish for HD. DirectTV uses only 1 dish. If you have line of sight for the standard channels satellite from Dish, but not not the HD satellite, you are out of luck.

I have a 40" XBR4 also. I absolutely love it - best television I've ever had, and, to my eyes, beats all of my friends LCDs. I calibrated the color based on someone's post over at avsforums, and it is incredible. We do have an upconverting DVD player, but everything else is upconverted by the television - seems to do a pretty good job

Tim
 
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